Tuesday, February 28, 2012

With energy prices ever rising, the temptation to go off the grid by generating your own solar or wind power can be heady--but is a major retrofit really a good investment? The payback calculator at SolarEstimate.org can help you decide. Plug in your ZIP code, choose your utility provider, and insert some data about previous electric bills, and the calculator will generate a detailed report based on the type of service you're interested in. For example, if you're looking to install solar panels, you can see the average solar rating in your area, how many square feet of panels you'd need to generate enough energy to power your house, and an idea of when you might start to see a return on your investment. You can perform the same calculations for other technology, too, such as wind turbines or solar-powered hot water heaters.

With energy prices ever rising, the temptation to go off the grid by generating your own solar or wind power can be heady--but is a major retrofit really a good investment? The payback calculator at SolarEstimate.org can help you decide. Plug in your ZIP code, choose your utility provider, and insert some data about previous electric bills, and the calculator will generate a detailed report based on the type of service you're interested in. For example, if you're looking to install solar panels, you can see the average solar rating in your area, how many square feet of panels you'd need to generate enough energy to power your house, and an idea of when you might start to see a return on your investment. You can perform the same calculations for other technology, too, such as wind turbines or solar-powered hot water heaters.